Schumer says he opposed the Iran deal because of ‘threat to Israel’

“The greatest threat to Israel in the short term is Iran, we know that. That’s why I opposed the agreement, because Iran is such a danger,” Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer said yesterday of his opposition to the Iran deal in 2015. Schumer spoke at a breakfast of the Council of Jewish Organizations of Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Back in 2015, the New York senator was very concerned not to mention Israel’s interest in opposing the deal because such talk might raise dual loyalty charges. He referred to such charges when he gave a “tachlis” talk (let’s get to brass tacks) to a Jewish group and warned them that the U.S. and Israel had different interests and he had to go with America’s. His statement opposing the Iran deal two months later cited American interests– “we will be worse off with this agreement than without it” — and mentioned Israel once:

For years, Iran has used military force and terrorism to expand its influence in the Middle East, actively supporting military or terrorist actions in Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and Gaza.

Schumer was one of four Democratic senators to oppose the deal, which was the signature of President Obama’s foreign policy.

At yesterday’s speech, Schumer said he is the highest ranking Jewish elected official ever in America and said that he had met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently and for an hour discussed the greatest long term threat to Israel: the disaffection of young Americans from the Jewish state.

I am, Baruch Hashem [thank God] the highest ranking elected Jewish official ever in America. Tell you what a great place America is– my father was an exterminator, he didn’t go to college, and his son is the highest ranking Jewish elected official.

The greatest threat to Israel in the short term is Iran, we know that. That’s why I opposed the agreement, because Iran is such a danger.

But the long term danger for Israel is something we don’t think about enough.The young people in America do not know Israel’s story. If you look at the polling data, they don’t know what Israel has gone through, and their support for Israel is declining, in every part of the country, every age group [sic], even the evangelical young people’s support for Israel is declining.

So it’s our obligation– I had an hour lunch, just me and Bibi Netanyahu, and this was the subject because it is so important.

The problem is that since the ’67 war, “Israel’s become strong, and the Palestinians have done a good job of publicity in trying to show themselves as the oppressor [sic].”

Schumer has three prescriptions “to alert the young people to the truth.”

1, Support the Taylor Force Act, which will cut off funds to the Palestinian Authority because “the Palestinian Authority gives money to the family of anyone who commits terrorism… They give them parades and calls them heroes.”

2, “We have to go after the BDS movement [boycott, divestment and sanctions] and call it for what it is, anti-Semitic.”

3, “We have to let the young people know… the danger that Iran presents to Israel. I can’t tell you the intelligence briefings I get. I can tell you this much: The number and accuracy of the rockets that Iran has brought into Lebanon is much much greater than it was during the last Lebanese war… If Iran tells Hezbollah to send rockets into Israel, there will be much more… death and destruction…. This is a real danger. We must alert the world that Iran is not a benign country but seeks Israel’s destruction and has more power to do it than just about any country since the founding of the state of Israel.

“That will help the young people to understand what Israel is up against.”

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These rabid anti-Iran Zionists don’t even realise anymore what fools they make of themselves. If the JCPOA is abandoned Iran will undertake accelerated development, production & deployment of nuclear arms, and rightly so.

The rockets of Hezbollah are purely for self-defence purposes, as neither Hezbollah nor Lebanon has ever attacked Israel.

That shining light Schumer does not see any contradiction in wanting to stop Hezbollah acquiring self-defensive rockets whereas Israel is acquiring offensive rockets with massive military & financial support from the US.

“Israel’s become strong, and the Palestinians have done a good job of publicity in trying to show themselves as the oppressor [sic].”
He shoots so much bull he does not even realise this sentence does not even carry the message he wants to get across, viz. that “Palestinians have done a good job of publicity in trying to show Israel as the oppressor.”
Unbelievable.

“There is No Peace in Palestine because Schumer, Dems and Trump Are Historically Illiterate.”

Palestine Chronicle, March 14, 2018, by Rima Najjar.

EXCERPT:
“How deep is the historical illiteracy of Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic Party and Donald Trump and his party?”

“It is so deep, they are even immune to déjà vu, also known as ‘cryptomnesia’, which is where history is forgotten but nevertheless stored in the brain.

“Consider how AIPAC and the White House and State Department advisers influence every decision on Palestine. They use the very same techniques to brainwash American officials into believing their positions on the fate of Palestine are in the national interest that Harry Truman’s advisers used.

“Today, the Jewish state of Israel fills in for the Jewish Agency then. Today, advising trump on Palestine, you have Zionist Jews such as Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who, as a director in his family’s foundation, funded an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank, or long-time lawyer friend, Jason Greenblatt, who studied at a ‘West Bank yeshiva’ (and many more vetted by The Times of Israel).

“In Truman’s time, influences on the 33rd US president in this sphere came predominantly from two Jewish political advisers – David Niles, whose parents were from Russia, and Max (Mordechai) Lowenthal, whose Orthodox parents were from Lithuania. Both were ardent Zionists who, along with Clark Clifford, who was not Jewish, but who, under their influence and for his own reasons, strenuously pushed Truman to embrace the Zionist cause.”

By submitting to the pressures exerted by a minority in Israel, the Jewish state is alienating a large segment of the Jewish people. The crisis is especially pronounced among the younger generation, which is predominantly secular. An increasing number of Jewish millennials — particularly in the United States — are distancing themselves from Israel because its policies contradict their values. The results are unsurprising: assimilation, alienation and a severe erosion of the global Jewish community’s affinity for the Jewish homeland.

‘By submitting to the pressures exerted by a minority in Israel, the Jewish state is alienating a large segment of the Jewish people.’

Fifty years and counting of the Jewish state’s occupation and theft of Palestinian land, and great Jewish leader Ronald Lauder’s only concern is alienating other Jews; are there any words — is there an expression left?

‘We must alert the world that Iran is not a benign country but seeks Israel’s destruction and has more power to do it than just about any country since the founding of the state of Israel.’

lol! when they say “crisis” this is all they mean! that other stuff, like the occupation, the death and destruction? what crisis? hell no, they just don’t want the kids to find out.

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.

on March 19, 2018, 12:31 pm

It’s an uphill battle for Israeli foreign agents like Schumer – how are they going to convince the young minds of american jews that racism is not only ok but should be supported through legislation both in the west and in israel to maintain a violent apartheid regime.

Ayelet Shaked and other Israeli’s have come out and endorsed racism/apartheid. The frank discussion to be had now is whether racism/apartheid should be supported or defeated.

His father exterminated pests – Chucky would rather go after Palestinians – complicit in the destruction and death of thousands of Palestinians lives

“That will help the young people to understand what Israel is up against. ”Schumer

They already know .

They are up against a gang of oppressive, colonialist land thieving , war criminal , supremacist purveyors of lies and deceipt and supporters of Apartheid.

You need to change your approach Schumer.What you have been doing for decades hasn,t worked.Better try something else or the numbers of young Jews will grow exponentially and throw your Israel firster posterior out of office. Maybe you should prove your undying love for Israel and get on a plane and make aliyah.

one might think it would occur to schumer (at some point) that perhaps pressuring israel to change their policies might produce results that would in turn change people’s perceptions of israel for the better.

when solving a problem sometimes you have to look outside the box. i don’t think changing behavior to produce a different result is a very novel idea. i’d think it would be staring israel and schumer in the face. in fact, the growing awareness of their unwillingness to change their behavior could be what’s driving public opinion against them. but we all know it’s not just the appearance of them being unwilling to change (for we all know they’ve tried to alter that appearance time and again), it’s that they won’t change. as long as they keep being grassmowing fanatical a**holes, public opinion will only get worse.

|| Annie Robbins: one might think it would occur to schumer (at some point) that perhaps pressuring israel to change their policies might produce results that would in turn change people’s perceptions of israel for the better. … ||

It likely doesn’t occur to Schumer (or Lauder) that the “Jewish State” should change its policies because a core tenet of Zionism is that Jews are entitled to do unto others acts of injustice and immorality they would not have others do unto them.

||Anne Robbins: one might think it would occur to schumer (at some point) that perhaps pressuring israel to change their policies might produce results that would in turn change people’s perceptions of israel for the better. … ||

Yes. It was for 2000 years (am I right here?) a rabbinic teaching that Jews must live like nice folks among the nations — whether they were nice in their thinking or desires or not — in order not to make waves and frighten the horses. Now Israel is so strong, believes it has no neighbors who might get angry with it or anyhow do it any harm, and so it refuses to “make nice” in any way with anybody. Who do those old rabbis think they are, anyhow? The new Jew is strong and doesn’t bow to anyone. And actually enjoys antagonizing everybody.

sure, credit given. but note how the negative perception of israel has escalated in direct proportion w/the rise of the internet and public awareness, that train has left the station, and there’s no going back now.

It likely doesn’t occur to Schumer (or Lauder) that the “Jewish State” should change its policies

one would have to have their head firmly stuck up ones arse or stuck in the friggin sand to not have it occur to them (i was being facetious in my original comment wrt ‘not a very novel idea’) changing their behavior might garner a different result. heck no, they just WON’T CHANGE. hence, the handwringing. there’s no putting lipstick on this pig.

The college age students, including the amazing Jewish Voice for Peace, are turning away from Israel because, (see Schumer) “The young people in America do not know Israel’s story.” Of course, it’s exactly the opposite. Through online sites that correct the biases of MSM (Thank you, Mondoweiss) and social media (and the conscience to inquire and the courage to oppose) the youth of the US that was once solidly Israel’s is no longer. This is all to the good.

People like Senators Schumer, Menendez, Cardin, and Coons have to do a little self reflection.
They, like Jo-Jo Lieberman, want to be members of the Democratic Party in the USA when they need the votes and members of Likud in Israel when the Democratic Party really needs them.

They used to call people like that day trippers. When push comes to shove, they’re useful to no one.

These Schumer type Neocons are propping up another anti Iran “moderate” group in the Middle East for their PR campaign the Saudis. Mohammad Bin Salman said in his 60 minutes interview last night that Iran is working with Al Qaeda. Yet Bob Graham, the former chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has said that 28 declassified pages of the 2002 Congressional Joint Inquiry suggest “a strong linkage between 9/11 terrorists and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Saudi charities, and other Saudi stakeholders.”

RE: “We have to let the young people know… the danger that Iran presents to Israel. I can’t tell you the intelligence briefings I get. . . We must alert the world that Iran is not a benign country but seeks Israel’s destruction and has more power to do it than just about any country since the founding of the state of Israel.” ~ Schumer

[EXCERPTS] . . . The Israeli regime has always required enemies; it requires them now more than ever. But, as in the American case, only worthy enemies will suffice.

They are hard to find. With the United States and other Western powers in tow, talk of existential threats to the Jewish state ring increasingly hollow.

In addition to that, there is the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, a nuclear juggernaut, armed to the teeth, enjoying almost universal support within Israeli civil society and a reputation for excellence around the world. But its problem is much the same as one the American military confronts: for all its might, it is no longer suited to winning the wars it fights. All this self-proclaimed “most moral army in the world” can do is kill, maim, and bully.

It would be different if Israel had traditional state armies to fight. But it has not had enemies like that for many years. Instead, it has only defenseless populations, equipped with primitive homemade weapons to slaughter; and, of course, settlers to protect. . .

. . . Keeping the myth of a besieged and embattled Israel alive would be a problem even if Israel’s War of Independence had been more like unreconstructed Zionists claim it was. Jordan fell away from Day One, Lebanon long ago became a lost cause, and Egypt, by far the greatest danger Israel faced, was neutralized at Camp David.

Then the two Bush wars rendered Iraq harmless, and, for a variety of diplomatic and military reasons, Syria was effectively neutralized as well — even before inept American and European reactions to the Arab Spring brought that country to the brink of ruin.

And now a de facto Salafi-Zionist alliance, spurred in part by Saudi efforts to establish itself as a regional hegemon, has isolated Palestinians further. The theocrats in Riyadh have it in for the theocrats in Tehran, much to the detriment of the Palestinian national movement.

And so, the vaunted IDF is reduced to periodic slaughters of Palestinians living in the open-air prison that Gaza has become. It has not had an enemy worthy of the name since Hezbollah, a non-state actor supported by Iran, fought it to a draw more than a decade ago.

This is quite a problem for the IDF and, even more, for a regime that depends on existential threats to overcome internal divisions and to retain the support of the majority of the world’s Jews and of Israel’s allies abroad.

Therefore, even more than the Soviet Union in the Cold War era or Russia now, if Iran didn’t exist, it would have to be invented. . .

. . . It was only after the first Bush war against Iraq ended the prospect of serious Arab-Israeli hostilities, and after it had become indisputably clear that Palestinian resistance posed no serious military or diplomatic threat to Israel, that Iran would become a full-fledged, serviceable existential threat.

Russia served as a bogeyman for Americans for so long that Russophobia was easy to revive when the time came. But since Biblical times, Jews have held Persia and Persians in high esteem. . .

. . . Fear mongering can and does overwhelm that sentiment, but it is nevertheless there, beneath the surface, affecting public opinion at some level.

They therefore need a war bad, a war against a worthy antagonist. Iran is the only serviceable one in sight.

The Israeli Right understands this; this is why Netanyahu fear and war mongers as much as he does.

The problem, though, is that without American help, Israel would lose the war its leaders and many of its people want and may actually need if the regime now in place is to survive. They would likely lose too badly to save face.

If America was led by sensible people, it would never be dragged into such a dangerous folly. But it is led by Donald Trump.

And, on matters of interest to the Israeli Right, Trump, it seems, is himself becoming increasingly led by Zionist plutocrats of the Sheldon Adelson type, and by similarly noxious Israel-fisters. . .

Treason. Our Reps take an oath to protect the constitution and to protect the country from enemies both within the country and without. When we have Reps like Schumer and many others willing to undermine U.S. national security based on what Israel wants or demands …. “treason” is what you call it

It is shameful that he puts Israel above all things. The rest of the world agreed and supported this deal, because it was for the good of the entire world. It is time Israel’s servants in Congress tried to make their motherland, stop the occupation, and the land grabs, and where Iran is concerned, time for the zionists to stop waving cartoon bombs, and metal toys, to threaten Iran, it is enough to make any country nervous and want to have nuclear weapons.

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